Home

Coming home continues to be one of the best parts about traveling.

From the hotel to our door was 30 hours. We're tired and dirty, but, really glad to be home. The girlies and Pippa met us at the airport. It was a nice surprise.

I have a lot of work to do to get the pictures and video downloaded, but it shouldn't take too long. I'll probably have two or three more posts about the trip. It went by so fast, I still have things I want to say.

But for now, it's lunch and a shower.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Magnolia Blvd W,Seattle,United States

Gary Goes Somewhere with His Wife: Out of Africa

What an absolutely amazing adventure we have had! Not only have we seen some amazing wildlife but have experienced the Serengeti from the air and land.

I was, quite frankly, dreading the small plane ride from Kilimanjaro into the Serengeti. When we arrived at airport, our tickets where akin to what you get at the movie theater and no one bothered to check them. It was the milkrun and we were the fourth stop. It turned out to be a highlight! Flying low over the countryside, first over fields and the into the wildlife areas as Giraffes are grazing in trees on the side of the dirt runways. From the air, you could see lines of Wildebeast and Zebras stretching for miles, part of the great migration. I have never been a fan of wildlife shows, but I can't get enough now!

Once we landed, we saw Zebras, Giraffes, Wildebeast, Baboons, Elephants and Lions, and that was just on the drive from the airstrip to the lodge!

The landscapes are amazing and the Acacia trees are breathtaking.




Look closely and you will see....


Monkeys!

Another beautiful tree...



And look....




And another....




Zoom in....





Three lions,

Yet another tree...




And there is a leopard!




We have also been on the lookout for the cast of the Lion King!



Mufasa and Nala


Scar


Pumbaa



And Timon!

And then some more of my favorite shots....















































Yes, those are vultures and it was another unexpected highlight......the circle of life.








Even the Hyenas are cute!


If Puff Daddy were a bird!





A rare Rhino sighting today -very exciting!!










Gary really wanted to see the Wildebeast and would have been happy if we had seen a few. We have seen thousands. We have seen 29 lions and most animals have been up close. We have had a great guide and have been very focused on getting the most out of safari but we have also been incredibly lucky on our timing and have experienced more than most. I can really see how Africa gets under people's skin and why the Leakeys and Jane Goodall keep coming back for more.

We are leaving tomorrow and have had such an amazing time and am looking forward to being back home!

Hakuna mata!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Crater (Friday)

Today was our last day of wildlife viewing. It started at 7500', on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. The crater was created 1.5 million years ago when a volcano imploded. This is very similar to the creation of Crater Lake.

This is the view from the lodge we stayed at.



This is the view about halfway down.



We started the day with some animals we still wanted to see. The white spot is a cheetah. You could see it very clearly with the binoculars. We waited fifteen to twenty minutes hoping a nearby Thompson gazelle would wander close enough to make it move, but the gazelle seemed to have self preservation at the top of its list.


The big five is a way of categorizing the success of your safari. The big five is lions, leopards, elephants, water buffalo and rhinoceros. We started the day at four. These rhinoceros finished the list.


I only had one animal left that I wanted to see, jackals. We saw two types. Done.


This panorama looks like nothing. It is a photo of the salt lake at the bottom of the crater. If you blow it up, you will see small pink and white dots. Those are flamingos. There was even a point where a third of them took off. It was very exciting.


This is a random scenery photo. Off camera to the right are the bathrooms.


The climb out of the crater is 600 meters over 10K. It is a very similar length and grade as Alpe d' Huez. It is more harrowing as the road is little more than one lane and severely rutted. This was about two thirds up.


This is the final look back at the crater from the opposite side where we began.


By all measures it has been a successful safari. I have much more to post after we get back, go through the photos and videos, and get the photos from other members of our group.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ngorongoro, Tanzania

The Plain, The Plain (Thursday)

Everyday the view from our room seemed to change a little bit.


The zebras were moving up closer to the lodge. The rains were causing the long grass to grow.


It has been raining at night. The first day we crossed this bridge, the river was a trickle.


We almost hit this leopard tortoise at the side of the road. We had to back up two hundred yards to take the photo.


This is a big pool of hippos at the bend in a river.


We spent half an hour trying to see a cheetah that was behind a tree. We knew e cheetah was there because there was a research truck in the middle of the grass with a great view of the cheetah. Since we had to stay on the road, no cheetah.

We started our drive to Ngorongoro Crater. As we travelled south, the slight terrain of the northern Serengeti turns into this huge plain. It is difficult to capture the size of it. My apologies for the blur, this was at 60mph on a washboard gravel road.


Hurry up and wait, zebra crossing.


Wait again, wildebeest. This herd was probably a couple thousand.


The view from the front seat. In Masaii, Serengeti means endless plain.


Rock formations start to break up the plain a little


This is called Simba rock.


This is the Oldevai Gorge. This is where Louis and Mary Leakey made their discoveries about early man.


After stopping at a Masaii village (that will be a later post), we climbed hills to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. That is where we will spend tomorrow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Serengeti, Tanzania